White'bait', a name given in London to the translucent young of the herring and other similar fishes. They are salt-water fishes, but come up the Thames with the tide. Whitebait dinners are stylish and famous. The name is also given to small, colorless fishes, living at considerable depths off the coast of China and Japan but approaching the shores to spawn in their season. They are considered a delicacy by English people living in China.